Charles Kennedy, the party leader, also indicated that, under a Liberal Democrat government, fewer women would be sent to jail.

The main parties are targeting the women's vote but Mr Kennedy portrayed the Lib Dems as the non-macho choice for women put off by the confrontational approach of Labour and the Tories. Of 335 candidates chosen by the Liberal Democrats, 93 are women. Female candidates are fighting two of their five target constituencies.

Mr Kennedy said: "Many women feel alienated from the political discourse as it is currently conducted." He re-affirmed the promise to remove state pension rules that penalised women who had taken time off work to bring up children or care for elderly relatives.